Paying for Classifieds

[ironman]

as others have said, selling on this forum is a privilege. i feel that making a bunch of sales threads pretty much non-stop (or bumping everyday), and otherwise contributing very little is abuse of Faust's site, and should be met with warnings and/or removal of said privilege

personally, i feel that the criticism of reselling has been very selective. as such, i think the conversation should not delve into issues of who is making profit off who and how much.

regarding throwing back some money Faust's way, i agree; if nakata is (more or less) running a business he should be treated as such, as Zamb has stated

[swami]

Iam all for it. Charge a fee to post in classifieds.
I remember using Audiogons pay classifieds years ago, You could follow that model, Faust?

[Faust]

Yes, the Audiogon model seems like a good one, but I am thinking to do listing fees only - nothing to pay when you'd sell.

[ironman]

i appreciate you asking for members' opinions first Faust

i think you should:
- reserve the right to deny/lock/delete sales threads as you see fit
- ask members who use the forum primarily as a market to slow down or else pay a fee/lose their privilege
- ask members who basically run a reselling business to pay a fee for a sticky thread

i don't think having members who occasionally sell pay a fee would be a good idea. maybe because it would kinda ruin the welcoming feeling of the forum? dunno

as well, i feel that a per item listing fee would not be a good idea. paying for the privilege could possibly result in even more members adopting the bump-every-single-day attitude (so that they feel they're getting their money's worth).

but if it brings in much needed money that would better the forum as a whole, i guess it's okay. not like the members who keep the forum going will leave as a result of your decision

plus, the Classifieds may empty out, but the items/deals may still be had as they'll just show up on Superfuture or eBay or somewhere else.

[swami]

To implement the additional 1% final value fee could be tricky though, I wonder how they determine if an item was sold for less than asking etc?
And then there is the question of enforcing it , need a lot more man power.

[Faust]

yes, I wouldn't want to bother with that, just make the listing fees.

[swami]

i appreciate you asking for members' opinions first Faust


i don't think having members who occasionally sell pay a fee would be a good idea. maybe because it would kinda ruin the welcoming feeling of the forum? dunno

I dont think thats the case at all , Anyone who posts here appreciates this forum and would be only to happy to feel like they are contributing even more to the integrity of the forum


but if it brings in much needed money that would better the forum as a whole, i guess it's okay. not like the members who keep the forum going will leave as a result of your decision

I dont think money is the issue at all over here .The forum will benefit with revenue ofcourse especially from Commercial sellers but it will also discourage crap in the marketplace.

plus, the Classifieds may empty out, but the items/deals may still be had as they'll just show up on Superfuture or eBay or somewhere else.

That much the better no?

[AKA*NYC]

if it is somehow morally wrong or "dishonest" (as several individuals have suggested) to resell items in the classifieds for the purpose of profit i don't see how paying for permission to do this will make the act any more honest or legitimate or make sz a better place.

nonetheless it would be nice for sellers to show sz some love and donate to the site's upkeep and maintenance. perhaps a paypal button can be created and sellers (along with others who appreciate the site) can be encouraged to make suggested donations based on a percentage of sales, amount of goodness in one's heart, and so on. this can easily happen on the honor system without enforcement.

p.s. i like ironman's idea of paying a fee for a sticky thread for individuals who want to run a resale business. as long as the seller is scrupulous and gets positive feedback then this can be an asset for sz.

[philip nod]

the amount of goodness in ones heart....
zboss!!!!!

[Faust]

Donations don't work, AKA.

[ComeUpon]

As I've yet to utilize the classifieds here on SZ, I'm speaking as a bit of an outsider, but here are some thoughts that I have.

First of all, as this move seems to be in response to the growing number of speculative resellers taking up shop in the SZ classifieds, I think it's important for the forum (Faust?) to articulate exactly what the attitude towards these people are. If the attitude towards these resellers is that they're somehow acting disingenuously or inappropriately, then I fail to see how instituting a listing fee rectifies that situation. After all, simply charging them a listing fee isn't going to assuage any feelings that these people are somehow acting in opposition to the spirit of the forum. On the other hand, if the attitude towards these resellers is simply that they should have to pay to have the right to establish a business here, then I think something like Ironman's idea of having them pay to setup a sticky thread sounds good. That way the forum can maintain it's free for contributing members mentality, while also bringing in some money from those who are members only for their own monetary gain.

[Faust]

People don't like too many stickies - we've learned that in the shopping thread and had to create a subforum for affiliates. Maybe a subforum for resellers wouldn't be a bad idea, but the point is I doubt anyone will come out and say, Ok, I am doing this to make money. People will dodge that responsibility.

I think the point is to view the resellers as not getting a free ride on SZ. Every business has costs, and that will be their cost.

[ironman]

I dont think thats the case at all , Anyone who posts here appreciates this forum and would be only to happy to feel like they are contributing even more to the integrity of the forum

I dont think money is the issue at all over here .The forum will benefit with revenue of course especially from Commercial sellers but it will also discourage crap in the marketplace.

happy to feel like they are contributing is not the same as being enforced to pay, see AKA*NYC's post

i didn't say that money was an issue, primary or other. i was merely replying to Faust' point about the money: "...some of which would kick back to improving SZ..."

if it is somehow morally wrong or "dishonest" (as several individuals have suggested) to resell items in the classifieds for the purpose of profit i don't see how paying for permission to do this will make the act any more honest or legitimate or make sz a better place.

nonetheless it would be nice for sellers to show sz some love and donate to the site's upkeep and maintenance. perhaps a paypal button can be created and sellers (along with others who appreciate the site) can be encouraged to make suggested donations based on a percentage of sales, amount of goodness in one's heart, and so on. this can easily happen on the honor system without enforcement...

this is a good point. if a user was paying for their sales, then it would be okay for them to post it in Recent Purchases or maybe the designer's respective thread shortly before listing it?

i think the donation is a nice idea, as people can and should donate depending on how much they feel the forum has helped them

i feel that for the purpose of dealing with crap sales threads and junk posts, regular moderation is sufficient (i think you guys are doing a good job spotting and deleting junk posts). possibly warnings and limitations to deter it further but otherwise it's fine.

and if Faust wants to improve the forum i am fairly certain many users will step up with varying donations

People don't like too many stickies - we've learned that in the shopping thread and had to create a subforum for affiliates. Maybe a subforum for resellers wouldn't be a bad idea, but the point is I doubt anyone will come out and say, Ok, I am doing this to make money. People will dodge that responsibility.

I think the point is to view the resellers as not getting a free ride on SZ. Every business has costs, and that will be their cost.

yes. they should pay dues just like the affiliates do. that is why i think you should reserve the right to delete/restrict sales if you suspect reselling?

[Chinorlz]

Donations don't work, AKA.

Typing on an iPhone so a bit short...

A paypal link would be a great idea. People wanting to post should maybe do a 1% "donation" of their asking price prior to posting. If you don't pay, your posting will automatically be deleted.

This may become mostly self-regulating requiring only minimal work from the mods (spot checking etc). This allows everyone to give back to Sz and withthe volume of items being posted, even at 1% there can be good revenue generated to cover SZ maintenance costs and likely a bit more.

Posters in classifieds would just have to note their username in the paypal donation.

Excessive bumping etc would still of course be treated the same way.

Just a suggestion and seems like it would be fair to all parties involved without too much extra work for everyone.

:)

[AKA*NYC]

^ sounds reasonable to me.

thanks nakata




















(kidding )